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Week 4! I could see from the FB group you were speculating on which block would be the choice for this week and I can now reveal it is…
The Garden Birds
There is method to my madness – having decided to make the Stitch A Long 10 weeks rather than the original 12 (as the design just splits better that way!) I am trying to ease you in gently by starting with slightly easier blocks before we tackle those ducks and the French Knots on the cherry tree!
So, here are the cute little birds we shall be adding to the pattern this week…
You will need the following colours…
Birds: #798, #738, #3820, #3362, #632, #3853, #310
Table: #3808, #839
Stitching the Birds
These little guys are more time consuming than difficult to stitch. Your stitches will need to be small and neat to keep within the shapes.
I have numbered the birds to make it easier for you to follow rather than have a photo with numerous arrows coming off of it for colour and stitches.
The main stitches used for the birds bodies and wings is Satin Stitch – birds 1 and 4 have their wings stitched in long and short as I was playing around trying to decide which I preferred. Satin Stitch won but I kept these 2 wings as they still looked nice so no need to unpick!
I will show you one of the birds in detail and then hopefully you will be confident enough to complete the others in the same way using the photo for reference.
Lets’ start with Bird 3 as this will help me explain the need to plan your stitch direction to get the best effect.
A note on Satin stitch: these birds are really suited to satin as they are small – smaller spaces are easier to achieve a smoother look. I find that outlining the shape to be filled with small back stitch first helps to create a much nicer finish.
Take a look at Satin Stitch here if you need a bit of help. Scroll down to the 3 small circle tutorial which goes through step by step how to fill a small shape. This is exactly how I filled in the wings and body shapes on these birds.
Bird 3
#3853/2 strands: Satin Stitch the body…
After back stitching the outer edge, take your first stitch where the white arrow is to set your stitch direction.
You can then satin stitch outwards from that stitch to fill the back of the birds body bringing the stitches around gently as you curve upwards.
The blue arrow shows the gentle change in the direction as you come around with your stitches in the direction of the black arrow up towards the tail.
Come back to the first stitch again (white arrow) to fill the other side of the body up towards the head. The Blue arrow shows the direction the stitches start to take as you come around and then straight stitch across the head to finish.
#632/2 strands: Satin Stitch the Wing…
Outline in back stitch on the outer edge and then start in the middle of the shape (white arrow) in a diagonal downward direction to set the stitch direction. Complete each side as you did before to fill.
Feet Beak and Eye
All of the birds are stitched in the same way for these details using #310 / 1 strand: ONLY USE 1 STRAND FOR THE DETAILS.
- Feet – Straight stitch
- Beak – straight stitch a triangle shape outwards first and then fill it in with teeny tiny stitches
- Eye: French knot (Tutorial here if you need it)
Stitch and Colour Guide for all the Birds…
Satin stitch the body and wings unless otherwise stated paying attention to the direction of the stitches in the photos.
#798 Wing / #738 Body / #798 Tail – 2 Long Chain stitch.
#632 Wing & Tail / #3820 Body, Small wing and Tail.
#3853 Body / #632 Wing / #3820 long stitch
#3853 Body / #798 Wing / #3362 2 Long Chain Stitch
#798 Body / #3362 Wing & Tail / #3853 & 3362 long stitch tail
#798 Body / #3820 Wing and Chain Stitch Tail
#738 Body / #3362 Wing and Tail / #632 Head
All of these birds look wonderful when complete and of course you can choose your own colours and stitches if preferred.
Stitch and Colour guide for Bird table
Use the following photo as a guide for stitching the Bird Table. Use 2 strands throughout and stitch the Roof last…
For the centre seed holder – use 1 strand of #839 to diagonally trellis stitch the grid effect and then do a long stitch up each side to complete.
For the Seed ball – use 1 or 2 strands to trellis inside the circle and then back stitch the outer edge (your stitches will need to be tiny for this!)
And there you go, a wonderful Bird Table full of lots of hungry birds is now complete. Well done.
Make sure you show off your lovely stitching on the Happy Stitching FB Group or send me some pics and I’ll post them here, can’t wait to see how your design is coming along.
Don’t forget you can also share your stitching on Instagram with #stitchdoodlesembroidery.
Happy Stitching!
Want to stitch this Pattern as well?
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Here are just a few of the fabulous birds stitched in the SAL so far…
